Welcome back to Grassroots Grantmaking, Proximate’s newsletter that covers the global movement in philanthropy to shift power to the grassroots.

Starting this month, we’re moving to a monthly format. Each month, we’ll share a big new story; news from around the world of grassroots grantmaking; and other stuff we’re reading around the web and around the world.

Thanks as always to our supporter Magic Cabinet. Reach out at hello@proximate.press with any corrections, story ideas, links we should see, or updates from the field.

With gratitude,

Ben Wrobel

In late April, I traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia for a gathering of the Human Rights Funders Network – an annual conference that brings together human rights grantmakers, mostly from Europe and the US.

The conference came at a tense moment. Tbilisi is only 100 miles from the Russian border, and Russia’s influence was felt deeply at the moment. 

Just down the street from the site of the conference was Freedom Plaza, where hundreds of thousands of Georgians were gathering nightly in protest of a far-right “foreign agent” law that would punish grassroots groups for the source of their funding.

That law ultimately passed last week, and I recommend anyone interested in human rights follow the situation as it unfolds, including the ongoing work of opposition protestors.

One bright spot amid the strains of rising authoritarianism: the conference hosted the launch party of the Dalan Fund – a new, participatory grantmaking vehicle that puts decision-making power in the hands of local activists. 

I spoke with the leaders of the Dalan Fund about their vision, and learned that activists in the three CEECCNA regions often feel like “prisoners of geography”, caught between East and West – in no small part because of the paternalistic approach that Western donors take to this part of the world.

As co-founder Nino Ugrekhelidze told me:

“If we have any departing point from philanthropy it’s that there has been one particular culture that is imposed on all of us – in how we talk, how we make decisions… We don't tell people across three different regions that there is only one way of operating.”

Read the full story:

As Authoritarian Regimes Tighten Their Grip, Can Donors Bridge the Trust Gap in CEECCNA?

• New column: We launched a new column, Repairing Development, by Haitian anthropologist and development professional Isabelle Clérié. Check out her intro post and second column.

• Loss & Damage: We published the first installment in our series that asks the question: what would localization of loss and damage funding look like?

• Decolonizing Wealth: Amber Banks shared what’s next for the Decolonizing Wealth Project, including their expanded focus on the Global South.

• Binging PGM: Kelley Buhles consumed 70 case studies, 27 reports, 23 webinars, 15 toolkits and 6 videos about participatory grantmaking. She decided to share what she learned.

Each month, we'll share a roundup of news and updates from the field of grassroots grantmaking. Send us any updates to hello@proximate.press.

Too Southern to be funded?

• #ShiftThePower published a report and open letter to the OECD, titled Too Southern to Be Funded. The topline: Global South organizations receive just 10% of funding from the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee. The other 90% goes to organizations based in the Global North.

• Worth noting – in April, Sweden’s aid agency announced a decision to “untie” aid by opening up competition for their funds to Global South organizations. One analysis asks: is this the dawn of a new era of localization – or a “move fast and break things” approach aimed principally at causing disruption?

• At the HRFN conference in April, a frequent topic of conversation was the decision by Sigrid Rausing Trust and other foundations to cancel grants to the FRIDA | Young Feminist Fund for speaking up against the genocide of the Palestinian people. Sigrid Rausing Trust in particular was called out on stage during a plenary session.

• Last week, more than 200 Jewish donors and philanthropy leaders signed an open letter in response, calling on colleagues to “cease the harmful practice of withdrawing funding” from groups speaking up for Palestinians.

• An excerpt: “Today, we see the Palestinian people being forced to fight for their very survival and being pushed into exile as we were and we cannot be complicit as Palestinians face the same fate as ourselves, our relatives, and our ancestors. We will not let our faith be used as an excuse to silence the voices of progressive activists, and particularly BIPOC and Global South movements, that see deep linkages between their own struggles for liberation and the struggles of the Palestinian people.”

• Yes, we read that op-ed. Melinda French Gates wrote about her vision to “play offense” on womens’ and reproductive rights, weeks after announcing her departure from the Gates Foundation.

• In one notable excerpt, she hinted at being open to participatory grantmaking: “I’m also experimenting with novel tactics to bring a wider range of perspectives into philanthropy. Recently, I offered 12 people whose work I admire their own $20 million grant-making fund to distribute as he or she sees fit.”

• That group – which includes former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and several well-known activists – is a bit more grasstops than grassroots. But it’s a welcome step and a far cry from the Gates Foundation’s current stance on its own power.

• In addition to the Dalan Fund, April also saw the launch of Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur, which redirects funding for climate justice through 14 local partners in Latin America, Africa and Asia (including the Youth Climate Justice Fund). Read about it in Maria Amália Souza’s interview with Inside Philanthropy.

• Also in climate news – the trust-based Agroecology Fund announced a $9 million investment that it will distribute through its interesting decentralized approach.

Rounding up coverage of grassroots grantmaking from across philanthropy media.

• Inside Philanthropy continued their coverage of participatory and trust-based philanthropy, including a profile of the new African fund Masan Wa Afrika, and a story about the Colorado Trust’s decision to end its PGM program. Also quite enjoyable: their profile of Vu Le’s new accountability project Crappy Funding Practices.

• Alliance Magazine shared a report from the Asia Venture Philanthropy Network’s conference, which featured a session on trust-based philanthropy. They have also given plenty of space to the work of the Dalan Fund and their partners, which is mandatory reading for anyone interested in human rights.

• Stanford Social Innovation Review published a supplement titled “The Future of Philanthropy is Trust-Based”. Notable articles included Operationalizing Trust by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and Reimagining Funder Accountability by the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.

• Nonprofit Quarterly dedicated their entire spring issue to the critical challenge of Black women getting pushed out of foundations. I recommend you check it out; it’s called: “‘Stop Drowning Us, and Stop Making Us Disappear’.

• Devex has been producing some of the best coverage out there on the localization debate in international development – check out their stories here, or sign up for their enlightening Newswire daily update.

• I always enjoy Gemma Bull and Tom Steinberg’s newsletter Modern Grantmaking. It even comes with a monthly joke (Funder: Tell us how you’ll become sustainable once our grant ends. Applicant: We can’t; we’re a non-prophet.)

• Rhodri Davies’ Why Philanthropy Matters newsletter is a good read on recent news, with a UK edge. Check out his analysis of the Melinda French Gates announcement.

• Vu Le continues to drive the conversation over at Nonprofit AF – I enjoyed his recent post reflecting on whether he (and, I suppose, we) are “preaching to the choir” – and why that might not be all bad.

• I hope you’ve all been following the Stupski Foundation’s new podcast/video series, Break Fake Rules, hosted by Glen Galaich. You had me at the title, Glen. Their first episode, with Trust Based Philanthropy Rroject’s Pia Infante, is worth a watch.

Thanks for reading!

Sign up for future Grassroots Grantmaking newsletters here. And reach out with ideas for future field notes or stories by emailing hello@proximate.press.